Charles I and Victoria’s daughter
Royal links over two centuries apart
Two hundred and eight years passed between the execution of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1649, and the birth of Princess Beatrice, youngest child of Queen Victoria , in 1857 — yet they are linked.
Their coming together takes place at the bleak and imposing Carisbrooke Castle in the middle of the Isle of Wight, off England’s southern coast.
It was in this castle that Charles was held in 1648 in the period between the end of the main part of the Civil War and just before the decision to try him for treason (and his ultimate beheading).
He sought escape twice — once by trying unsuccessfully to squeeze through the iron bars of his bedroom window; and again being caught using acid and a hacksaw on the bars.
Centuries later, Beatrice decided the nation needed a permanent reminder of Charles’s stay at the castle. She would have known of it because Carisbrooke is only around 10 km/6 miles from Osborne House, the Italianate palace favoured by Victoria.
So, in 1898, Beatrice decided to establish the Carisbrooke Castle Museum within the walls of the castle. She did it in honour of her late husband, Prince Henry of Battenberg.
